Golfing, skydiving, yachting are all extravagant hobbies which many cannot afford. These are the activities that are mostly exclusive to the wealthy.
But who says these are the only things that can make us happy?
Aside from eating, indulging yourself to cheap treats can be enjoyable. For instance, getting a massage or spa service is one recreational activity that won’t burn a hole in your pocket.
Together with my mom and sister, I traveled to Visayas Street along Congressional Avenue and found Blue Elements Wellness Spa yesterday.
Relaxation and “Me” Time
What are we to do when even an hour becomes too much time to spare? With the daily stresses causing bane to our bodies, we have to find time to relax. Going for a massage is one good solution to knead out our tensed muscles and free us from mental burdens.
There are many spa centers in our area. We also have masseuse who personally goes to our house by call reservations. We pay her PHp 200 for an hour of full-body massage.
So we won’t go that far to Blue Elements Wellness Spa if only CashCashPinoy.com had not promoted this captivating deal: at PHp 250 (for an individual coupon), each of us availed of Blue Elements Wellness Spa’s ear candling and Swedish massage services.
Ear candling lasted for 20 minutes, while the massage which took an hour. Original prices without the promotional coupons are PHp 300 and PHp 220 respectively.
The Experience
As we entered through the main door, we were greeted by three female staff who were all clad in blue top and bottom uniforms.
Mom presented the printed vouchers. The woman behind the counter called Mom to note that two vouchers had the same reference numbers. One could not be used because this meant we only got two unique voucher codes.
Mom was quick to respond and point her mistake out, and the staff felt sorry. In reality, this checking staff is either blind or just plain super careless without any good eye for detail. She failed to read the name of the customer and the reference code as a whole. Instead, she only focused on the last five digits after the hyphen!
In five minutes, we were asked to get in to the massage area.
Inside was very dark, with dim blue lights and insufficient air-conditioning. The room was arranged with mini rooms of massage beds divided by sheer curtains. When my visual capacity had managed to adjust in the dark, I could see more vividly. And I could also see the person lying next to me on the bed because of the translucence of the curtains.
Male and female customers were not segregated, so there’s a fat chance that peeping toms can take all pleasure in seeing the person beside them. There were CCTV cameras installed on top of the corners of the room to monitor the ins and outs of people walking in the hallway.
The room had a certain light scent of aromatherapy oil which did not contribute as a relaxing factor.
There were no lockers to put our belongings. No proper instruction was given until we asked what we’ll do to prepare for the massage. One staff was even confused and first told us to wash our feet and go back to the waiting area. But immediately, another staff called her attention and corrected her directions.
Mom and my sister laid on adjacent massage beds, while I stayed in another mini room as space was not enough for the three of us to be in one mini room.
My masseuse asked me to remove my shirt and pants and wear the shorts (too big for me) provided on the bed. I placed my clothes and my bag beside my head, not knowing where to hang them. Of course, they could potentially be objects of distraction once the massage procedure begins. I thought the staff really lacked consideration on this. I had to request for hangers for her to properly put my things aside securely.
Before putting on pressure, she would always ask me if her force was tolerable. She began from the back of my legs and feet, my back from the shoulders to the pelvis area, the front of my legs and feet, both arms, chest, and head. The massage was fair but not really much satisfying than what what we’re used to.
Next was ear candling which I was more excited about. It was my first time to have my wax in both my ears sucked up by ear candles. I saw the hard formation of the ear wax afterwards but felt no difference in hearing. I thought I could hear sounds more clearly and loudly.
When the ear candling procedure was done, the masseuse offered me a cup of tea or hot water. I chose the former. She left the mini room and returned with the complimentary hot tea and a small flowery purse which I wronged as a giveaway. I did not take the purse and did nothing with it.
Later I learned from my mom that it was supposed to be where customers give tips to the masseuse. Oh, if I had known, I would not bother to give any tip as well.
Will I Recommend Blue Elements Wellness Spa?
As you’ve reached this far, you may have guessed the answer is “No.” The sense of fulfillment was inexpensive, and their overall performance and presentation was okay. But they are not worth going for considering the proximity of distance and the rate of enjoyment I experienced. Without the discount, their services are surely not worth the price.
Blue Elements Wellness Spa Services
If at all you’re still interested to try Blue Elements Wellness Spa’s services after reading this review, note the following details:
Open hours: Every day, from 1PM to 1AM (Last call is at 12AM.)
Treatments/Services and Rates:
Blue Elements Body Massage: PHp 350 (one hour)
Pinoy Hilot Body Massage: PHp 320 (one hour)
Stone Massage: PHp 450 (1.5 hours)
Swedish Massag: PHp 220 (one hour)
Chi Thai Massage: PHpt 199 (one hour)
Shiatsu Massage: PHp 199 (one hour)
Foot Massage: PHp 199 (one hour)
Foot and Hand Reflex: PHp 180 (one hour)
Foot Spa: PHp 199
Foot Spa and Pedicure: PHp 300
Pedicure: PHp 100
Manicure: PHp 100
Address: 21 LRI Building Congressional Avenue Quezon City
Contact Numbers: 02-6229450; 0917-5403456; 09224618939
Thanks for reading! 🙂 Feel free to share your experience with Blue Elements Wellness Spa in the comments section below.
About Rochkirstin Santos-Sioco
Health and technology freak. Food and lifestyle blogger with a large appetite for food and travel.
This post gave me an idea on what to do our celebration of Father’s Day, hubby’s bday, my bday and our wedding anniv which fall in June. Yay, excite na’ko! 🙂
Hehe sometimes services like these are greater gifts than material things as you can spend quality bonding time with your loved ones.
I always get a good massage after a good long training week as part of the recovery process. The rates here looks really reasonable.
Rates are reasonable and I don’t disagree, but because it’s too far from home, I won’t go there just for a massage when we have so many of these in our area anyway. But yes, massages don’t just feel good, they do good, benefiting almost every part of the body.
Blue is my favorite color and it would be refreshing to see blue during a massage.
seems like the services are not that good.
You read that correctly. Better go somewhere else than relieve your stresses here (honest opinion). ^_^
Baka pala imbes marelax ako eh lalo pa ko mastress. Pero never ko pa natry magpa-spa hehe makikilitiin kasi ako. What spa can you recommend?
Aww too bad they failed to satisfy you. I’ll shy away from this too.
Thanks for the trust, Stacy. We’ll find a better center that can give better service and massages for general health and well-being, to keep the body and mind in top shape.
sometimes, i really want to try a spa and have a review. for sure, i will be relaxed with it.
I haven’t been to many spas in Metro Manila, but I can certainly vouch for The Spa. 🙂
I miss going to SPA and have that great pampering with your “TORSO”. Time to relax and be yourself at the most.
I want to go to spa whenever I’m stressed. There are many spa wellness centers but it’s hard to choose which one delivers a satisfactory service.
Same here, my house prefer house massage whereshe doole out just 200 pesos . But promo thing like this, gosh, mag-avail kaagad yun.
Hehe it’s also nice naman to explore other things out of our comfort zones and feel the difference. This is one way of educating ourselves and discovering what’s in and out in the local scene right now.
Honestly never tried a spa session yet! Poor me noh haha Anyway thanks for being honest. Few bloggers are not honest when it comes to reviewing some shops/websites just to sponsor them again. Sigh*
I guess that’s true. Honest reviews are intended to be published to help out users on decision-making. Nevertheless, bloggers cannot stop users from obtaining what they want to have or experience anyway. 🙂
I’ve never been to any spa session yet though my cousin owns one somewhere in Laguna. I’ve been there but never tried it. haha.
I guess some promos in group buying sites are just not worth it. I’ve read some reviews about their purchases from those sites and ended up getting mediocre services too.
Ohh. For this one, there weren’t enough reviews to really describe and depict the customer experience and my mom did not research for what people are saying about the spa so she went on and continued to buy the vouchers for us. 😐
YES! tamang tama naghahanap ako ng mga wellness spa. Will inquire na for tomorrow. :))
Hehe okay. Other suggestion is to look for an affordable service via online deals sites. 😀
Thanks for this honest feature Roch. Oh oh, they should improve their services and staff should be trained well. Tsk.
Yes, exactly! They should improve on staff training, marketing plan development, facility protocols and customer service. Investing time, effort and focus on these area are important if indeed their goal is to offer an experience to guests or members which is both positive and memorable.
I am bothered by the fact that you can almost see the persons to your side…but with that rate, what can you expect nga naman..
Protecting the customers’ privacy should be one of the topmost concerns of any establishments. It’s a serious obligation that this spa center just failed to achieve.
I sort of want to give this a try! Cheap pa! <3
If you’re near to the place, it’s worth going for. If not, transportation costs and the hassles in the experience aren’t good factors to consider.
Good